The Sun. — London, England, 1809-07-27 00:00:00

vote of thbnks being moved to ,Lord Gambler, t,5 the tnd that their Lordstips may he enabled'to j•ilge how tar your Lordship's objections may be of w..ture to justif:,-,the suspension of the intended . in Parliament, or to call for any further in vestigation. Jan), My Lord, &c. (Signed) To Captain Lord Cochrane.. kt. W. W. POLE. LORD COCHRANE'S ANSWER: 4' Portman 5quar0,,:j=50—,1!.309,. " Sln,—T have to acknowledge the* receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, signifying the direc tion of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to me, to state fully, for their information, the grounds on which I objea / to the Vote of Thanks taping moved to Lord Gambier, to the end that their Lord ships may be enabled to judge how far My' objec-; tions may be of a nature to justify the suspicion of the intended motion ill Parliament. " I have to reqqest, Sir, that you will submit to their Lordships, that I - shall, at all'tirdei, entertain a due sense of • the honour they will calmer by any dlietlions they may beipleased.t6 give nee ; that, in put:soitig the object of those directions, my exertions' will invariably go hand in hand with my duty ; and c.at to satisfy their Lordships' tmnds in the present ingtance, on the point.of • information regarding the late service in Basque Roads, I beg leave to state, that the Log and Signal 'Jog Books of th'e fleet there etnplbyed at the period alluded to, contain the parti cutars,of that service, and furnish premises whence accurate' conclusions may be readily drawn ; that as those books are anthetitic public documents, and as I must necessarily refer to them as to tithes and cir cumstances, any thing that I ,could offer upon the stibje6t would, to their Lordships, be altogether su perfluous, and appear presumptuous interruption to their Lordships' judgment, which will doubtless al ways tbdnd itself upon these grcauds only, that can not be disputed. " I have the honour to be,, Sze. (Signed) To the Hon. - W. W. Pole, &c. Szc. &C. ~'.•COCHRANB•" LLTTER FROM LORD , GAMIIER TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR, FOR A COURT MALTA L. " London, May ito9. mu letter to yod of the loth instant detailed the whole of the, proceedings of the fleet under my command in the attack,on the enemy in the Road ofikii, I had flattered myself that I should have received some i ii ;i:ification of pn appro bation of rny,condua, and have had.the gratifying task of conveying to the Officers and men under my command, the estimation in which the gallantry and disc iplin.e displayed by them upon the, occasion were held by his Majesty and their COUnfrk. • " Understanding, - : however, that there'are some doubts whether the fleet is to be, so honoured, and feeling that even a doubt upon such a subject cannot be entertained, consistently with my reputation as Commander in Chief, I reques t that you will be pleased to' move the Lords Commissioners 'of the 4dtnirally to dire& a Court Martial to. be assembled as early as possible, for the purpose of enquiring into my conduct as Commander in Chief, and all the thosaaions relating to the Fleet Oder my command from the 17th March last, 'when the Caledonia an chored in Basque Roads, to the tirne'4 her quitting that anchorage for England, on the 29th ult. - _ " 1 have the honour. be, &c. ( Signed ) Gmlist ER." The Hon. W. W. Pole,. &Q. Lord Girthier then Presented to the Court.all the orders lie receivid lrorn the Admiralty while com manding the Channel Fleet. tat. InstruCtions• to proceed, under certain cir cumstaDcvs, off Cape Finisterre, to send a frigate to look into Col unna, and Ferrol, &c. 2d. Informing Lord Gambier, that ten additional uti-vessela and fire-ships, and Mr. Congreve, with his 'octets, were ordered to join his Lordship, &c. 3d. Secret Instrutlions from' the Admiralty, di recting Lord Gambier to assure to the Masters of 1- ssels emplOyed upon this service, remuneration for 1. of ships, &c. 4th. Situation of the enemy upon the day of the Proposed sttack, with the plan of Sir Rictl. Keates, 23d Aprtl, 1807. 501, Secret letter from the lion. W. W. Pole to Lord Gambier, ,signifying the wishes of the Lords of the Admiralty . that ,hi Lordship should employ . "Lord Cochrane upon a particular service. fitli. Letter Iron) the Hon. W. W. Pole to Lord Gambier, with furthpr instruaions. 71h. Orders from the Lords of. the' Admiralty' to Lord Gambier, direeting, hint to send ,some ships and iiigates to intercept the enemy, in case he should en- . tleavuur to get into Brest or L'Orient harbours. St b. Letter from the Hon. 'W.W. Pole to Lord GaroWer, acquainting him that certain ships which acre ordered to prOect the.tode, inte, the L'Orient squadron, were to be under his Lordship's confroand. Mr. Stokts, Master of the Caledbnia, the first wit ness - sworn and examined, produced tht log booki of that ship. Q. Vir.re the contents of thc:..-e 6 Enka under your dairy hispeahm, and are their contents true 'l`htr}• were written by one of the Mates under my inspeaion, aad to the best of my'knowledge and be ►h 3 ►hey are t; orrea. Q. Produce a sketch or drawing of the station and situation of the British and , French at Isle Did you prepare this drawing,; and is it Cur- Y.ek't to, the blit of your knowledge and belief, and f+utn what authorities, in form tion and.observation ? A. Partly from the knowledge I ,gained from the soundings andobsertations taken of "tlcelsle of Aix, (1 - a a Vt - ench Chart,-thei)osition of the enemy's flee!, &c. &c. which are accurately d;:- ribed .:cording to_ the, best of my knowledge and b Lieut. Hawk;us, the Signal Officer of the Caledo ri), Nwnr-r; atid examinert•:— Q. Were you Signal Lieutenant on board the Ca ledonia ?—A. I was. Q. Produce the signal logs of that ship. Q. Were their contents written by yon ?—A. They , were, under u inspecion;Aay the Mate of the Signals. . Q. Are their contents true They are, to the best of my -knowledge. Mr. John Spurting, Mamter of the Imperiense, being sworn, produced• and verified the contents of • HL. log-book of that ship, same as - the former witnem ti t Hare you made arty addition of alteratiou'in it t..iace your arr;v4l In England ? Q.. (Frou) Lord Gambier)—Do you remember going on board. toe Indefatigable aucut the luth 14y last ?--A..1 do. Q. For what purpuse did you go, and by wi n , r e order's For my own information, and not by. i any person's order or sugpstion. Q. Do you .recolled attetnpting to make a dot)) , of ! the log of that ship, and were yno not interrupted by the First Lieutenant, who forbad your doing so,. and took the log from you I—A. I recoiled want ing to make a memorandum from it, of the time of the ships' coming into aaktn, but the First Lieute 7 naut said Iliad better not do it, as I could not do it without Ca-pt. Rodd's leave ; then I said it was im- material. Q. Then you made no alteration in the Live rieuse's log afterwards ? A. Not any. Q. (By a Meinber) Did you make any observa tion respetaing that tog to any one on your return to the Imperiuse ? A. No ; none whatever. , Q. Did you confer with yoar Captain, Lord Cochrane; on going on board the Indefatigable fiat this pUrpose, or was it directly or indirectly with his Lordship's knowledge or privity ? A. I do not know that his Lordship knew of it. I did not tell him of it. I can't say whether he knew of it or not. Q. You have said you went on board to aseer r taro what time the action began ; what was your tnotive for wanting to know the time ?—A. Merely for my own information, to satisfy my own mind as to the time we came into action, not being on deck at the time the Indefatigable commenced firing.--:- I might have gone to any other ship in the fleet, but.. as I knew Lieut. James, I took the liberty of asking him, having unit - intention before I: went on board the Indefatigable. . Q.. It has been observed, that in' the afternocin log of the 12th of April, there are various insertions of material:events and circumstanees-: How did it happen that there are insertions of transaaions in thetfiernoon of the 12th of . April, inserted in the margin -and not in the body of the log ?—A. After the aClion wasnver, I received orders from Captain Lord Cochrane to proceed with a boat, to ascertain the depth of water between the Imperieuse and the French Admiral's ship,.which occupied my titre un til it was quite dark.' On my return I entered such part of the transaetion relative to the a6lion, then in my memory'. Next day, having ti:e middle watch, looking over my log-book, as I might not have au opportunity to fill it upon the next day, I found that bad omitted .these things which are entered- in the margin. Q. Have you no recollection of what next follow ed in the margin ?—A - .• I have not. Mr. Raven, Master of the Csar, being sworn and examined, verfied the , contents of the log-book of that ship, same as the former witnesses. ~ M r. John Thompson, Master's Male of the Beagle, being sworn and examined, produced the log-book •ot that ship, and verfied its contents. Q.. (By the Cooter)—l see several entries re lating to the Imperieuse, in the margin of the log ; why did you not write it in the body in stead of the margin ; or how does it happen that an insertion of very material circumstances stated to have occurred at half-past eight . o'clock. tz.m. on the 12th of April, was inserted in the marginal co lumn, instead of the body of the log ?:-L-A. In copy ing from the loci-book I missed the signals, and I copied it itito the log-buok. Q. Who kept the accounts of the tog-board ? A. The Master, and I copied it into the kg-book. , Q. Were the events recorded in this Jog-book, which you say you wrote yourself, inserted day by day as the circumstances occurred, or is this a copy of any -'ether los-book, that was kept it the time ?-e-A. No, Sir ; it was entered into the log, "every day at twelve o'clock. Q. Repeated. A. Every thing was wrote in the log-book as it occurred, every day at noon, and was afterwards inspetted by the Captain.. They are en tered as they occurred within my own knOwledge. Captain Lord Cochrane sworn and examined. Q. Were you ever entrusted by Lord Gambier with the conduct of the fire-ships in the attack, of the enemy on the 12th April, in Basque Roads ? A. I was. Q. At what time did you arrive in the Impe. rieuse, and join Lord oa . mbiei ?—L' I have got the log with me; I cannot swear to it, not having writ ten it myself, but 1 believe it correct. It. appears . from it on the 3d of April, but I dO not mYselt ex= adly recolle& it. I think it was about that day. Q. What was, the 'strength of the - enemy's fleet at that time, how moored, and hoW 'protetated,hy the works on the Isle•ef Aix, and by the shoals at, the entrance of :the harbour i—A. The enemy's fleet appeared to'consist of - nine sail of the rep.; lar line, beside ,one ship of three decks, Calcutta,.. 50 guns, tour frigates, and there was another large vessel, I don't know what she was ; she tnight be 1 , a store-ship they appeared . -- to be moored, as near • • as I could judge, N. and S. I thought they first inclined considerably more •to the N. E. and, S. W. They were defended by their own cannon, the ve sels . being, in .a very strong position, they 7\i'ere 'flanked by 13 cannon towarcis the N. of Aix, i besides the mortarsAm that island. The frigates were sta tioned to S. B. of them, apparently tor the purpose of flanking the other side for their preft.Tdion against boats and tire-vessels. Between Aix and the Boyart I do not know Of any shoal. The water is not deep at Aix, but shelves gradually off towards the entrance of the harbour. Q. At what distance from the enemy was the Bri, tish squadron moored on the evening of the 11th of immediately previous to the attack by the fire ships, and what was its strength, and was the situa tion in your judgment properly chosen, and wliat was the wind and tide ?—A.To thebest of my judgment the British fleet was .between eight and nine miles from the enemy's ships on . 1 ith April; in the even ing-they remained in the same position as on my ar rival; from the time of my arrival and until the morn ing of the I eth. I believe the British squadron un moored that night, but don't know of my own knowledge. The position chosen by the Commander its Chief was a very good position for blockading the enemy, and for observing any material movement of the sqUadroti. Having already mentioned my opinion of the-distance, it must be obvious that the destruction oft he enemy could not be effected while in that posi t lion by the siyips there placed, as already mentioned. The wind was not the same in the evening as the morning; at eight attack P.M. on the itch in the evening, the wind must have been about,due I did not take exa&ly the point of the wind, but so; the tide at the same floor began to run Awards the S.E. As to the strength of the British squadron, it consisted of i I sail of the line, besides 9 frigates and one bomb. Q. The flood-title runs towards the S. E—A. Yes, a flood tide had just began to run towards the S. E. _ _ Q. Did it ippeir to yogi. Lordship that the Ad miral made every arrangement for preparing and sending the fire-ships against the enemy?--A. Every possible assistance, as well as Admiral Stopford and . the Captains of the Fleet. Q. Were the frigates and other smaller vessels properly placed by the Commander in Chief for af fording every assistance in the attack on the enemy ? Very judiciously placed. Q. It appearing by the signallog of the Caledonia that you made several signals for the ships of the fleet to come up, and from the situation of the enemy, was it your opinion that it would have been expe dient for the Commander in .Chief to have sent in. half the fleet, or any part of it, to destroy the ene my's ships, considering tide, Rre. ; and was it your opinion such ships could have again got 012 t in satety? —A. I did make the signal ; the Imperieuse being the nearest ship, placed by his Lordship in the guid ance of - the fire ships; and hdving had the charge of these vessels, I thought it proper to communicate to his Lordship the state in which they appeared to me to be, which' I did by the signals mentioned— (produces some papers), These are copies of the' minutes which I made at the time; the time may not be precisely accurate, but the circumstances are perfectly correct, and well known by all the officers in the fleet. , (Some discussion took place upon Lord Coch rane'b referring to his minutes, after which the exa mination proceeded.) It is my opinion that a much smaller force than half the fleet would have been sufficient; the signal was directed by the Caledonia to be, repeated. ordered the signal to be made that two sad of the line was enough, which I have since undeiSlood was not made, but that the officer repeated the pre vious signal. The fa& was, he thought it would be an insult to make that signal, and therefore he repeated the former signal, leaving it to the discre; tion of the Commander of the fles to send what portion of the fleet he might think proper. From , the time that the first signal was made,in the morn ing, until about eight o'clock, it was ebb tide, the tide was going .to windward. -At eight. o'clock %it - was low water. There is anchorage out of iange cf shot or shell for at least six sail of the line. _The Imperieuse passed in gong in close to the Buoyart; 'it was then nearly high water, about half-past' one or two o'clock in the day of the 12th; when goi . og . in. Coming out, it Was also high water. In both of which courses there was sufficient depth for yes-.: sels of any size—the impression of mind is, for ves- - •sels of any size, at any time. Q. Do you recollect what depth you had when you passed ?—A. think very near the Buoyart we had six fathoms. That vessels of any size, at any time, might go in Of outs I tank you said that six' sail of the line might lie clear of shot or shell ; have you any authentic chart, or any evidence to support that opinion A. It was front the soundings we had, provided the tide does not tall more than 12 feet. It is so mentioned on the French char:, which I produce in Court ; I had no other means of judging. With resped to depth of water .1 can to a certainty say, that if the rise 'and fall is not more than 10 or 12 feet, I think there is depth enough at any time. I think the ship would have gone in as safe, as the others did. alter w ards. Q. You have mentioned that there was room for six sail of the line, did you mean at any time of the tide to lay .without the range of .shot or shell A. Yes, at anytime of the tide ; to-that I can Speak, positively; we were there at all times of the tide— it was. the height of the springs, and there were riVe and a quarter fathoms under our bottom at folio water, and from five to six fathoms at 'a distance round about us, sufficient for that purpose. That was my impression 'at the time, but now believe • you -mtght put a dozen or 20 sail of the line. Q. - What, without shot or shells ?—A. Yes. - Are all the circumstances stated - in this log correa; according to your knowledge and!belief A. Ye - s. ' :Q. Did the Commander in Chief, in consequence of 'signaTiMade, soon after, and when, weigh with other ships, and proceed near-the Isle of Aix, and at what time did lie come to anchor ?—A. He weighed, I Think,about eleven o'clock, and anchor ed about half an hour afterwards, having both wind and tide in his favour. The position taken tip by his Lordship was nearly • that mentioned in the French Chart, and which 1 otlered to the Court, marked .No., 2, in which, is shown the - situation of the enemy from Jay-light in the morning, of tie 12th, and till the two French ships which' remained "at anchor cut their cables on his Lord Ship standing towards. Q. Was the position then taken up by the Com mander in Chief the most proper for obserVing the -enemy, for sending ships in the most prompt man . nor to attack and assist the ships, and might that position have been taken at an' earlier' period for • the: good _cif ,service, and carrying into effect that service for wich you made signals ?- r -A. It was a good position to observe the .enemy, if taken at ele ' ven o'clock, but it was not taken till, two : it was not. a position for attack; there was no attack at that time. Questionsepeated.--;4.. I have no hesitation in saying it was a good position for observing the mo tions of the enemy; and being near, aisistance might have been sent, to any vessels, had an 'attack been made upon the enemy. That position might have been taken at day-light, when, an attack' might have been made to the advantage of the ser vice. Q. 'lt appearing by the log of the Imperieuse that you having previously sent in a man to take soundings, did you weigh ,and advance towards the enemy by signal from' the Commander in Chief; or did you do so without orders by signal or otherwise A. I think it necessary, if I am permitted bythe' Court, to read, as an answer to this question, 're marks which I threw together in consequence of a' letter from the Secretary of the Admiralty, stating that a Court-Martial was to take place. These re mat Its contain all the transations which took, , place in tasque Roads, and ;c MlSt e vcr !). t . above question. The I mpericese had twen .1.. i r , ( the night before, being the - Captain hasieg the charge of .the fire ships to effea the destruction cf the French Aeel, and the Imperieuse had not been recalled from that service. - Q. When . you went in en the tell), did yeti geein, pursuant to the signals of the Commander, or did you do so without cyders, by signal or otherwise ? A. t so in cornpliatice with what I considered the spirit of the orders I had received. The dcing of it was my own aa. The entry in the log-book of the Imperieuse, that-1 weighed at half-past ele- - yen, is not correct, as will appear by the log- books of the fleet. I weighed at One o'clock ; the Etna ra ther preceded me. . Q. - It appears by the log that you made signals - of distress e what. was the nature of the distress-of your ship, and did any one mind, what came to youy assistance, and was . there any 'unnecessary delay in that ,respec=t ?—A. -I enquired by hailing, ':Wthet attack was intended-to be made on the one- - my 2 The Commander replied, he was ordered to bombard; I directed the Commander of the brig to go close, and that i should prole& them. It was then one o'clock. The French 3-decker swung to her hawsers, and the last of their ships began to move. I had the charge of the fife-ships; they had failed of every expected purpose. I knew what the - tongue of slander was capable of, and al though I admit that the feelings of my Lord Gam-, bier tor the honoUr and the interest of his country, were, and are, as strong as my owne - yet personal considerations were enough ; the expeaations of my country, the hopes of the :Admiralty, and my own prospects, were about to vanish—l weighed - chore and ran in, and wentbeyond the possibility of return ; I ordered sail to be made after the stern most ships of the enemy, and in standing in, I made the signal that the chase was superior to the chasing ship, because the Ville de Varsovie . and Calcutta were both' afloat, and immediately afterwards, that we wanted assistance, which signal is absurdly cou pled- with the words " being in distress." When we got up to the Buoyart, we opened out re upon the Calcutta and Ville de Varsovie. The Calcutta .was broadside on, the Varsovie lay with her stern to wards uteshe being under sail, and the Aquilon was in the same - position ; the latter did not fire for a lOng time, they t‘eere employed clearing away their stern to get guns out. When we anchored it was about two o'clock. Some brigs had anchored as marked in Chart No. 2, for the protection. of the . bomb, and were firing,_ but too far off to be of any use. - 1 - niade- the 'signal for them to close, but as there is no flag to express brigs only, without fri gates or larger vessels, most of which were'com mauded by my seniors, I explained as far as lay' ' - Within - my means, that this signal was intended for them, by firing from the main-deck; the quartee-deck shot did not reach them. This signal, I was after ev6-cls told, gave considerable offence, and so soon , as I learnt that from Sir Harry Neale, I declared to Lerd Gambier, that it was not my intention, in the 'slightest degree, to Hurt his Lordship's .feelings -- I had then no time to..express by a tedious telegra phic communication what I meant to conVey. were all busily employed, when it was reported to me that several sail of the line and frigates were coming to, our assistance. About three the Re venge and several frigates came within ,hailing : I -hailed them to 'anchor, or they would ground, having taken our birth on the very edge of the shoM —it was the falling tide. Several that had anchored . opened their fire on all the ships that' week:: within reach, - the Varsovie, Aquilon, and Calcutta. I made signal that the Calcutta had struck, and sent a boat to inform those who were firing at her that our boat was then on board of • her, on which the Indefatigable and others turned their fire to the Varsovie and isquilon : I ordered our people to cease firing s' there were then ships enough to de stroy . the enemy without the Imperieuse; out people were much fatigued, they therefore rested ,themselves, with the exception of those ordered to -repair their _ riggitig the other ships continued to fire on the Varsoirie and' A.quilon until they- struck, which was about six o'clock. The Calcutta was set on fire ; the enemy in a consternation kindled it. still more : our boats were employed shifty ing the prisoners; the French were deserting seve• rat of their ships with every boat that belonged to them, and pulling and sailing for the Rocotort Ri' - ver ; an attempt was ieteesloo tertiave been made to burn the enemy's sbip. Ocean. Capt. Bligh volut. teered this service: Capt. Maitland regretted that on . account of Capt. Bligh having previously undertaken it, thit he was deetived of that opportunity of distal , . , guishing himself.- I was too much fatigued to under. t li a t k i e gu it e; the myslf. r l a c s o o u n ld i s i ca . rc a e s ly n i o t t an d d o l n h e ro l ng o l l i i e ly xc l e e s a s r i n v7 i, . since seeing the public dispatches in the papers.e As the French had taken to their boats to land their people, they were all ashore that ni g ht, a nd the next morning there were two or three chassa' marees in their stead, - lightening the.enetny's ships, by taking articles from them. There was no delay H whatever to the best of my belief after the signal fer assistance was made; on the part of - Lord smbier, in ordering ,the vessels to our assistance; but had the attack been made in. the morning ..when tide was falling until past eight o'clock, and sseteri the enemy's ships were all, with the exceptiog of two,-fast a-ground, a three decker andttwo others, :3 15 shewie in Chart No. 2, lying close together to windward, with, their masts and yards apparently locked, in which position they 'continued until one o'clock ; it is tiny opinion that seven sail of the enemy, including the three decker, might have been destroyed with fleility, by two sail of the line, assisted by the frigates and smaller vesselsi and it is my opinion, that atter the hour of half-Past eleven, when the eeemy's two ships that remained . at anchor until thr Briti,h fleet weighted, the trig.it° alone, assisted by the smaller vessels; might lia`- e destroyed the whole of the above- mentioned ships , the rear ot which afterwards were attacked. "Adjoat ned until to-morrow morning at n 44 GO7'TENBURGH" MAIL. ~ l`l,' S'IOCKHOLIYI JLVLY . 11.—We have 'received sic' '.counts.ot a convoy from Rio ti. Revel hating bo l l. met by two English Frigate - s, and that 'eiihteeri laden with proCisionti arj captured. The ilu.ssian troops remain ini,erfect it~~ twit